Missed most of this one, including the critical last 8 minutes. We were at a pub with friends having dinner, so I could only occasionally check the game. The real mystery is what happened with Bishop???Looks like the triplets stepped up and helped out their back-up goalie.

I love a good mystery - who will be in goal tomorrow?

If Bishop is out, that certainly gives Chicago the edge.

I won't miss tomorrow night, in a hotel all by my lonesome, so no distractions!

Very good game last night. The very first game in the entire 2015 playoffs that I was able to watch from beginning to end. This is an exciting series. To call these teams evenly matched, would be an understatement. I think Chicago has more talent, but for some reason I have a feeling that the Lightning are going to take this series.

I was only able to catch the last period of the first game but from the looks of it Tampa definitely let one slip away. However, regardless of play, a split on the road is not a bad thing for the Hawks. I am curious to see how Crawford will respond in goal in game 3. One thing for sure, there won't be a building half filled with Lightning fans to worry about. Florida has no business having even one NHL team, let alone two.

From what I'm reading Bishop may have a groin pull or something, the Lightening aren't saying much. The 20 year old backup Vasilevskiy is pretty impressive but the Stanley Cup finals are much, much bigger games than anything he's likely experienced imo.

If Bishop is out for even a game, the Blackhawks just got very lucky indeed.

I'm pretty happy that Tampa Bay won last night. Certainly something is up with Bishop but it can't be anything too serious. When I was a kid, 15 or so, I suffered a groin pull that kept me on the bench for nearly a month. I could hardly skate let alone play goal, so I'm thinking it might be his left knee or hamstring is giving him problems. I can't fault the guys on Hockey Night in Canada for trying to figure it out with the post game questions.

I'm not sure I buy that. I really think anything can happen during the Finals. When the chips are down guys can reach down deep and come up with heart and soul they hadn't found before. Clearly these teams are very well matched so I'm expecting it to go to Game 7.

Wow, the wheels have fallen off the Lightening. That first goal was comedic, I'm sure NOT to the home team. Tons of mistakes in their own end. I'll hope for a Game 7 but it's not looking good for the Lightening.

That's the sad thing about this series. It was competitive...and then it wasn't at all. Goalie hurt. Highest scorer in playoffs and second on the team gets hurt (Johnson). All the confidence gets sucked out of the team. Then Chicago could score a goal or two and set back into a strong neutral ice defense and ride out the games. BORING to watch. Understandable, but no fun to watch. I wanted it to go 7 games (before it even started), but not if it was going to be like that.

After Bishop clearly gets injured, I was disappointed they didn't throw in the backup goalie for the remainder. I get that it would have hurt their confidence and built up Chicago, but their confidence was already low. How much worse could it have been? Let the kid have some experience and either prove himself or not.

I love hockey. I love to watch it. I didn't care who won, but I wanted a fun series. It started out like any true sports fan would want, and then it derailed into an exercise in futility. Keith rose to Hall of Fame status, if he wasn't already there, so that was cool to witness. What a shitty series, and it wasn't good for hockey in general. Well, I shouldn't say that. Now NBC can drill us with Chicago's legacy for the next year.

Yep, what could have been. I was worried with all of the previous 7 game series, that someone (or both) would be mentally and physically shot by the finals. I thought it might have been Chicago vs the younger FL team.

Zeno Marx wrote:

riff raff wrote:

Wow, the wheels have fallen off the Lightening.

That's the sad thing about this series. It was competitive...and then it wasn't at all. Goalie hurt. Highest scorer in playoffs and second on the team gets hurt (Johnson). All the confidence gets sucked out of the team. Then Chicago could score a goal or two and set back into a strong neutral ice defense and ride out the games. BORING to watch. Understandable, but no fun to watch. I wanted it to go 7 games (before it even started), but not if it was going to be like that.

After Bishop clearly gets injured, I was disappointed they didn't throw in the backup goalie for the remainder. I get that it would have hurt their confidence and built up Chicago, but their confidence was already low. How much worse could it have been? Let the kid have some experience and either prove himself or not.

I love hockey. I love to watch it. I didn't care who won, but I wanted a fun series. It started out like any true sports fan would want, and then it derailed into an exercise in futility. Keith rose to Hall of Fame status, if he wasn't already there, so that was cool to witness. What a shitty series, and it wasn't good for hockey in general. Well, I shouldn't say that. Now NBC can drill us with Chicago's legacy for the next year.

That's the playoffs, though. Brutal. Grueling. Chicago playing four defenseman. Still, you can't do dick in hockey with a bad goalie. And I'm not pro-Lightening. I just wanted a great series in 7 games. Didn't happen.